Perk On Main: Crepes To Go Crazy Over

Perk on Main's deck overlooks the Connecticut hills. (Nina Godlewski, Special to CTNow)

NINA GODLEWSKISpecial To The Courant

A good crepe can be hard to find. Luckily, a foodie friend recommended Perk on Main in Durham and my search is over. The added benefit is that Perk has the feel of a Vermont college-town café, from the mismatched and colorful furniture to the bookcase of children's books and a community notice board with everything from yoga classes to SAT prep classes.

Although it's in a small strip of stores, Perk is small-town inviting: There's a wall with organic and fair trade food items for sale and friendly college-age students behind the counter. Three large blackboards hang above the cashiers and kitchen area, featuring dozens of crepes.

Once you make the difficult decision – sweet or savory, lunch or dinner crepe — you must decided between comfy chairs, café-style seating the outdoor deck. Each section of the restaurant has a different color scheme, and the deck has a great view of the Connecticut hills.

If you're looking for a light breakfast, beware: It can be done, but you will be tempted to chose otherwise. The food is carefully prepared and the portions are large. We ordered four crepes, each unique in its own way.

The Et Tu Brutus ($8) features spinach, eggs, onions, garlic, tomato and feta all wrapped in a crepe with potatoes on the side. It was the thickest crepe I've ever seen and I had to bring half of it home because it was just so full of deliciousness.

With chicken, mushrooms, onions, and cheddar in a warm crepe, the Smothered Chicken crepe, also $8, could best be described as comforting. It was not small, but it was gone in 10 minutes.

We ordered two other crepes, both sweet: a plain crepe with sugar ($3.50), always a crowd pleaser; and the Amazing Grace ($7.50), which was made with local low-fat vanilla yogurt, banana, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. The berry medley was perfectly balanced with the banana and yogurt to keep the crepe from being too sweet.

Sweet crepes range from $3.50 to $7.50, but most of the prices hover around $6 and most are some sort of fruit combination with sugar or Nutella. A range of breakfast crepes include what you'd expect: eggs, sausage, ham, and cheese and most are priced around $8.

Perk on Main, which has been dishing it up in Durham for more than a decade, also offers omelets, quesadillas, soup, salads, sandwiches and wraps. They have an assortment of drinks also, and their specialty "perkuccino" is well worth trying. They are flavored lattes that come hot, iced, or frozen.

>>Perk on Main, 6 Main St., Durham, is open Saturday through Monday, 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Tuesday to Friday 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. The restaurant also has a Guilford location. Information: 860-349-5335 and perkonmain.com.